The Regulator: A Sonic SatAM Story
by Vilsy
Summary: Sonic and his companions face the largest scale threat the evil would-be dictator Dr. Robotnik has ever thrown their way. Can the resourceful Freedom Fighters decipher his twisted plans to ravage Mobius before it is too late? Grounded in SatAM universe.
1. Chapter 1

The Regulator: Part 1

A Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM Fan Fiction

It was late afternoon in the city of Robotropolis, though the sky appeared as black and dank as midnight. This atmosphere was not uncharacteristic of the evil city. On this dreary afternoon, a group of Workerbots marched steadily through the streets. Among them was a metallic image of a hedgehog. Sir Charles brought up the rear of the group, on their way to a shift change in one of the vile Dr. Robotnik's factories. Unlike the other mindless robots, Uncle Chuck stole glances of his surroundings now and again, while the others focused directly ahead of them continuously. Chuck had been slightly suspicious lately. There seemed to be abnormal goings on in Robotropolis: most factory activity had been shut down. In fact, several SWATbot factories had been put on hold and all reserve metals were being transferred to the downtown factories of Robotropolis. During his daily hacking jobs from his secret office, Chuck had discovered something alarming. Out of sheer luck, he had been able to locate a Doomsday data bank in Robotnik's mainframe, but could not get passed the security systems without fear of detection. For several days he had tried to extract information concerning the Doomsday Project, but to no avail. The thoughts of the whole thing racked his circuitry as he walked. When he entered the factory in which he was posted, something caught his eye. He waited until the other Workerbots were a distance away before he slipped away towards the scores of Workerbots busily toiling over some large metallic structure. He ducked behind a wall and peered around, studying the towering structure. He squinted, trying hard to identify what it was. After a few minutes, he hastily scurried after the other 'bots so he would not be late to his post and draw suspicion.

On the same exact afternoon, Princess Sally Acorn sat in her hut in a much brighter village of Knothole. She was seated at her desk and was diligently working on her portable computer Nicole. As she sorted through arrays of data files, she sat back for a moment to reflect. She took a deep breath and continued. A sudden knock on the door startled her.

"Who is it?" she called, gazing towards the door.

"It's me," a high voice announced. "May I come in Miss Princess?"

Sally smiled when she recognized the voice. "Sure. Come on in Amy."

Little Amy Rose let herself in with a bound and closed the door behind her. "Hello Miss Sally!" she greeted, skipping towards the desk.

"Hello, Amy," Sally returned. "How are you doing?"

"OK," Amy replied, swinging her foot back and forth. She leaned over Sally's shoulder. "Whatcha doing?"

Sally looked at the little pink hedgehog, then back at Nicole. "Oh, just doing a little work on Nicole," she explained, not very in depth about it.

"Oh," Amy nodded. She continued watching the flashing numbers and letters on Nicole's screen. "Miss Sally?"

"Yes, Hun?"

"Will you come out and play with me?"

Sally frowned and looked back to Amy. "Oh, I'd love to sweetie, but I'm very busy right now." She saw Amy's disappointed expression. "Why don't you ask Tails to play with you?"

"Tails is busy doing guy stuff," she smirked irritably. "I'm not invited."

Sally shook her head and chuckled. "Don't worry about that, Amy. He'll get over it one of these days." She suddenly got a look of resolution. "I know who isn't busy," she smiled thoughtfully. "Go ask Sonic if he'll play with you." Amy's face brightened with girlish glee when see heard his name. Sally noticed and smiled. "Better yet, TELL him to go play with you. He should be down at the Power Ring Pool."

Amy turned and darted to the door crying, "Thank you Miss Sally!" as she left.

Sally just smiled again, returning to her work.

Since things had been bizarrely calm and quiet in the dark city of Robotropolis lately, the inhabitants of Knothole Village enjoyed the peaceful, hard to come by downtime. Tasks that were otherwise put on the back burner while matters of Robotnik were dealt with were possible to be squared away. Bunnie Rabbot and Rotor the walrus were occupied repairing loose boards on the bridge spanning the river. Miles Prower was fishing a ways down the river bank. Antoine D'Coolette was stuck on guard duty in the watch tower. Dulcy the dragon was hanging upside down from a tree, catching up on some needed sleep. Sonic the Hedgehog was also catching up on well deserved sleep down at the Power Ring Pool. He was stretched out in the warm sand, head resting on the log, snoring violently. Amy Rose, who still had a burning crush on him, couldn't believe she hadn't thought of going to him before. She ran as fast as she could down the path to the clearing, growing more and more excited when she heard the hissing of the small waterfall in the distance. She skid to a stop in the sand and noticed the slumbering blue hedgehog. She smacked her side in disappointment.

"Aw nuts! He's asleep!" She giggled as she watched his chest rise and fall, emitting a loud snore each time. She slowly tiptoed up to the log and sat down on it, next to Sonic's head. After watching him further, she built up the guts to reach over and hold his nose with her fingers. Sonic instantly jumped awake, gasping for breath. As he breathed in and out rapidly, startled to death, the first thing he could hear was the hysterical laughter of a little girl. He turned and looked up at Amy who was almost doubled over with laughter.

Sonic smirked. "What'd ya do that for?" he demanded.

When Amy had finally collected herself, she replied. "You were asleep."

Sonic glared at her with malcontent. "Yeah, I noticed. Why couldn't you leave me that way?"

Amy smiled and shrugged. "'Cause you have to get up and play with me."

"What?" he whined incredulously.

"Miss Sally said for me to tell you that you have to play with me," Amy explained dryly.

Sonic narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Did she really?"

"Yup."

Sonic let out a huge yawn and stretched. "Well what about Tails? Why don't you go party with him?"

Amy frowned and folded her arms in disgust. "I would but he's doing guy things and he says I can't play guy things with him. Cuz I'm a girl." Her look of disgust melted into a look of adoration. She slipped off the log and threw her arms around the blue hedgehog. "Besides, I like you better than Tails."

Sonic grinned, proud to get such a compliment, but then realized what she had said was not so nice. "Aw, you don't mean that, Amy. Tails is a great guy."

Amy thought a while. "Yeah... well... If you play a game with me, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the afternoon."

Sonic contemplated this. "Sounds good to me," he said with a shrug. He got a sly look and his face. "Let's play tag. You're it!"

Before Amy could argue, Sonic had jumped up and started running back down the path. "HEY!!" Amy cried, picking herself up. "NO FAIR SONIC! WAIT!!" She took off as fast as her little legs would carry her after the blue hedgehog.

Hours later, as dusk had come and gone, Sally jumped to another loud knocking on her door. "Come in!" she called. Sonic burst in the door and slammed it behind him, holding it closed. Sally glared at him, concerned. "Sonic! What on Mobius is wrong?"

Sonic put a finger up to his mouth. "SSSHHHH!" he hushed. He tiptoed across the room, Sally following him with her eyes, and ducked behind her bed.

Sally laughed out. "What in the world are you doing?" she inquired.

Sonic peeked over the bed. "Hiding from Amy Rose." Sally laughed again. "SSSHHHH!!! It ain't funny! She's trying to kill me!"

Sally put Nicole down on the desk and put her hand on her hips. "Oh really?"

"Yeah really," Sonic confirmed, ducking back down. "She said she'd leave me alone if I played a game of tag with her, but she wouldn't stop following me!"

Sally smiled warmly and shook her head, picking Nicole back up and continuing with her tedious work. "I think that's the object of the game 'tag', Sonic."

"I know that!" Sonic yowled, and then hushed himself, looking to the windows. "I was just trying to ditch her..."

"Don't be so mean to her, Sonic. She just has a little crush on you."

"LITTLE!?" Sonic exclaimed, but then quieted himself again so as not to give away his position. "That's the understatement of the year, Sal."

Sally just laughed again. "Well if she comes in here, I'm ratting you out."

Sonic gasped and popped back up again. "C'mon Sal! Don't blow my cover! All I wanna do is get some rest! I'm so tired and she's been chasing me all over Knothole! She's practically got my hut booby trapped so I can't go back there!"

Sally looked at the desperate blue hedgehog and grinned. "OK, Sonic. You can crash here for awhile, at least until the bounty hunter out there loses your trail, or loses interest anyway."

Sonic jumped up and dashed over to Sally. "Thanks Sal! You're the best."

"I know," she smiled, adopting his normal trait of cockiness.

Sonic placed his hands on her shoulders and looked over nosily. "So, what're you doin'?

"A little sorting on Nicole. She has got a lot of files that need organizing."

"BORING," Sonic smirked, as if expecting her to be doing something "cool". He sauntered over to a chair next to Sally's bed.

"Scientific name," Nicole suddenly said. "Erinaceus stupidicus."

Sally chuckled and nodded. "Yep, that's Sonic all right."

It took Sonic a while to process Nicole's insult. "HEY!!!"

The evil Dr. Robotnik, contradictory to the external atmosphere of the city, had been a very busy man as of late. He had been barking orders far more often than usual, so that was extremely often. As the evening hours arrived and dragged on, his nephew Snively was hard at work at the console of Robotnik's mainframe computer. He typed several lines of commands and data and accessed the most secure files of the system. He paid no attention to the large doors sliding open. "SNIVELY!"

"EEEE!" Snively jumped at the booming sound of his uncle. He turned and watched as the large Dr. slowly walked in, returning from monitoring the progress of his latest project. "Y-y-y-yes suh!" he trembled.

Robotnik stormed past him without offering even a glance. He headed straight for his huge green chair in the center of the room and placed his vast backside into it. Snively continued to shake as he watched and waited for a response. Robotnik steepled his fingers and looked at the main computer screen. "And how is our progress, Snively?"

Snively followed Robotnik's gaze to the huge screen. "Oh very, very good suh," he replied hastily. "I do believe I have the guidance systems down to a T. You should find the accuracy most pleasing."

Robotnik grinned and nodded. "That is indeed a plus, Snively. A plus indeed." He let out a hideous laugh that made Snively cringe. "This is all working out so well. And under such covert operation. To think I haven't had any grief from those mangy Freedom Fighters and that..." He frowned angrily before he continued. "...miserable hedgehog."

Snively grinned as well. "Yes suh. Things are going exactly as planned and even ahead of schedule, with no interference at all."

Robotnik was filled with baneful glee. "Very soon, Snively, my preparations will be complete. I'll be rid of those pesky Freedom Fighters, and Mobius will be mine to conquer!" He let out more insidious laughter and Snively joined him with a conservative chuckle before continuing his work on the computer. Robotnik stopped laughing and continued to glare at the monitor. "Snively," he began in a soft rumble.

"Yes suh?"

"I want you to run another cross-check of the mainframe system."

"But suh, I just performed one fifteen-"

"JUST DO IT!!" he snapped, slamming his fists on his armrests.

"Y-y-yes suh!" Snively hastily obeyed the evil Dr.'s orders and typed profusely on the terminal. Seconds later, lines and lines of data flowed onto the huge monitor that towered over them. Snively turned to his uncle who was impatiently waiting, drumming his fingers on the armrests.

"Well?"

"No traces of malfunctions or hackers, suh," Snively nervously reported.

Robotnik looked somewhat satisfied. "Excellent, Snively. See to it that it stays that way."

Snively swallowed hard. "Yes, suh."

Robotnik swiveled his chair to face another terminal. He pressed a button on the arm of his chair, opening up a communications channel on the computer. A SWATbot appeared on the monitor.

"YES DR. ROBOTNIK?" it asked.

"Progress report," Robotnik simply replied.

"CONSTRUCTION NEARLY COMPLETE ON ORBITAL SATELLITES. THEY WILL BE OPERABLE FOR LAUNCH WITHIN TWO OR THREE DAYS. PREPARATION OF COORDINATING AND GUIDANCE COMPUTERS COMPLETE. CONSTRUCTION OF 'DOOMSDAY DISTRIBUTOR' IS NEARLY COMPLETE. EXPECT COMPLETION IN TWO WEEKS. ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS POWER SOURCE."

Robotnik's red eyes lit up in sheer, baneful delight. "SUPERB," he hissed. "Everything is nearly finished. Now all I need is the ultimate power source to make my Doomsday device complete."

As Robotnik closed the channel and began rubbing his hands together, Snively built up the guts to ask a question. "If you don't mind me inquiring, suh, how do you plan to attain it?"

Robotnik glared at him and chuckled. He leaned back in his big metal chair and folded his hands on his round stomach. "Oh, I have my ways, Snively. I'm sure we can... persuade someone to give us what we want." He chuckled again. "But for right now, the power source is not a major concern of ours. Commence preparation for satellite launch. They will be ready within days and phase one of Operation Doomsday will have begun."

Snively grinned. "Yes suh. I shall run a simulation of the guidance computers. I should expect all will be in order."

"Well done, Snively," Robotnik agreed, swiveling his chair back to his nephew. He twisted his long mustache with a metallic finger. "And while you're at it, run another cross-check of the mainframe."

Snively looked surprised. "But suh, I just-"

"DO IT!!!!!"

"Right away, suh!!!"

Meanwhile, the sound waves of the conversation were travelling across unforeseen lines and into an unknown secret office. Uncle Chuck had returned from his shift and was uneasily listening to every word Robotnik was saying. This was the first time he had eavesdropped into the main control room and he didn't like what he was hearing about Robotnik's Doomsday plan one bit. He had, however, just tapped into an remote, insecure terminal that gained him limited access to some areas of Robotnik's mainframe system. Robotnik's rampant demands for security cross-checks were putting a damper on his work. What little information was able to find regarding the project distressed him very much. He decided now was the time to tell the Freedom Fighters what he was learning. He took his earphones off and typed a few things on his computer. He copied a live message he recorded onto a micro CD. He extracted the CD from the computer and enclosed it in a small case. He then called for his little messenger bird that fluttered down to his workstation and cooed back at him. Uncle Chuck hastily fastened the case to the compartment on the bird's foot and sent it on its way. After a little while of silent reflecting, he sighed and returned to his eavesdropping.

It was a peaceful night in Knothole. It was getting very late and most of the inhabitants had turned in for the night. All but one, that is. Sally was still sitting at the desk in her hut, in her pink night gown. She still had Nicole in her hand and was arranging the new files she had acquired recently. Loud snoring noises distracted her from her work. She smirked, turning to the chair next to her bed. "Sonic..." she called softly. Sonic was sound asleep, slumped in the chair and snoring loudly. Sally shook her head as she looked at him. He had kept her company earlier in the evening with pleasant conversation, but nodded off and now only served as a distraction. "SONIC!" she called louder.

"Huh? Wha..." Sonic murmured, opening one eye and looking at the Princess.

"Sonic, it's very late," Sally explained.

"Uh... uh.. huh..." he slurred, drifting back to sleep.

"Sonic! Get up and go to bed," Sally insisted.

"I am in bed..." Sonic mumbled.

Sally frowned. "No, that's a chair. Go sleep in your own bed, Sonic."

Sonic nodded slowly, his eyes still closed. "Just... just five more minutes..."

Sally was about to argue further, but just smiled and gazed at the sleeping hedgehog. As much as he annoyed her, conscious or not, she enjoyed his company. Besides, he was cute when he was defiant, which was most of the time. She turned back to Nicole and looked at her screen. On it was displayed, "Sonic and Sally sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g". Sally gasped. "NICOLE!!"

"My apologies, Sally," Nicole droned. "Strangely, I could not help myself."

"Delete that, Nicole!" Sally snapped.

"Deleting, Sally," Nicole obeyed.

Sally couldn't help giggling as she recalled the years before when the others used to make fun of her and Sonic by singing that song. She forced herself from her reverie. "Nicole, the time got away from me. I think we'll call it quits for tonight."

"As you wish, Sally," Nicole replied.

Sally smiled again and moved to close Nicole. Suddenly, a soft cooing sound came from outside the window. Sally looked to the window and saw the messenger bird hovering and cooing. "Stand-by, Nicole," she said, getting up from the chair.

"Yes, Sally."

Sally walked over to the window and opened it, a brisk chill blowing in. She held out her finger and the bird fluttered down onto it, cooing. Sally removed the small case from its leg, rubbed its head with her finger appreciatively, and then let it fly back into the night. She closed the window and turned back towards her desk. She smiled when she saw Sonic stir from the cold air that swirled into the room. Sally sat back down and picked up Nicole. "New objective, Nicole," she declared, opening up the case and inspecting the small golden CD. "We've got a CD."

"Oh goodie," Nicole replied rather dryly. "Please insert."

Sally placed the CD in Nicole's CD drive. "That tickles."

Sally laughed. "Access drive E files, Nicole."

"Accessing, Sally." She computed for a short time. "One message detected. Status: urgent. Origins: Sir Charles Hedgehog."

"Play message, Nicole," Sally instructed.

"Yes, Sally."

Uncle Chuck's face appeared on Nicole's screen. "Friends, I regret waiting so long to relay this information to you. Brace yourselves." Sally frowned at these words. "I've been doing extensive research and Robotnik's Doomsday device has been declared, almost completed."

"WHAT?!" Sally cried.

"Huh? Wha-? I'm up!!" Sonic yelled, snapping awake.

"Nicole, pause message," Sally said. She turned and looked at the now awake hedgehog. "SONIC! Go get the others!"

Sonic yawned and scratched his sides. "What? Why?"

"Just do it, please! Uncle Chuck sent a message and the others must hear it!" Sally demanded.

Sonic was taken back a little, and then stood up. "You got it, Sal. But I don't think they will be too happy when I wake 'em."

Sally frowned. "I don't think they'll be too happy when they hear this message."

Sonic shrugged, and then revved up his legs. "Be back in a sonic second," he declared, racing out of her hut.

Sally looked back to Nicole. "Reset message, Nicole."

"Yes, Sally."

A few minutes later, three other groggy Freedom Fighters in pajamas entered Sally's hut along with Sonic. Bunnie Rabbot looked rather unhappy with barely one eye open, Rotor was fighting to keep his head up, and Antoine... well he was a mess. Sonic led them all towards Sally's desk. "Sorry, Sal," he apologized. "I couldn't wake Tails up if my life depended on it, Amy Rose is sleepin' like a brick too, and Dulcy's on watch now, and she's probably asleep too."

Sally nodded. "That's OK, Sonic. I'd rather those three not hear this right away, or any of the other villagers anyhow." She looked to the others who were yawning and nodding off even while they were standing. "This isn't good news, guys, so listen up." She got a few nods and turned back to Nicole. "Display message holographically, Nicole."

"Converting file to holographic format, Sally. Now displaying," Nicole replied.

Uncle Chuck appeared as a large hologram in front of the five if them. "Friends, I regret waiting so long to relay this information to you. Brace yourselves. I've been doing extensive research and Robotnik's Doomsday device has been declared, almost completed."

The others snapped awake. "What?!" Bunnie cried, rubbing her eyes.

"Sacre bleu cheese!" Antoine added, shaking.

"What the heck?!" Sonic exclaimed, watching his uncle's urgent expression.

"I was able to tap into a small portion of Robotnik's secure mainframe and found some information on his plans," Uncle Chuck continued. "The only information I can really give you is that he is planning to launch a dozen satellites into the atmosphere. How and where, I don't know. I'm not even sure when yet. The system is so protected that it may only be possible to attain information from Robotnik's mainframe computer itself. The only other solid thing I heard was that Robotnik needs a power source for his device, but I just don't know what it is. I'm trying my hardest to hack all the information I can, but it's difficult to do from my workstation. Maybe a terminal from within the Death Egg would be more sufficient, but I don't think I could do it without getting caught. I'll continue to try as best I can to get more information. Eavesdropping may have to be my best bet. I will stay in touch. Please take care, Freedom Fighters."

"This is terrible," Rotor remarked when the message was over.

"I just don't believe he's nearly finished it, whatever it is," Sally frowned. "How could we not notice the activity?"

"'Cause ol' bullet-head wuz keepin' it such uh big secret, Sally girl," Bunnie replied. "This Doomsday thang is top-secret stuff."

"Yes," Sally agreed. "Too top-secret." She shook her head in deep thought. "What are we going to do now?" Sonic turned and headed for the door. Sally stared at him. "Sonic, where are you going?"

"To Robotropolis."

"What?" Sally exclaimed, standing up from the chair.

"I have to go find out what's goin' on," he explained dryly, turning to look at her.

Sally looked down at the floor boards and thought for a moment. She never liked to rush into things, but she considered the circumstances and decided it may be their best option. "OK. Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine. Get ready. We're going to Robotropolis with Sonic."

"Right," Rotor nodded.

"You got it, Sally girl!" Bunnie agreed, rubbing the sleep out of her green eyes.

Antoine shivered a bit and it wasn't from the cold. "Ah am not to be theenking zat thees ees such zee good idea, yes my preencess?" he stuttered.

Sally frowned. "I know, Antoine, but we don't have much of a choice." She stood up. "Maybe Uncle Chuck can provide us with more information if we go see him. Antoine?"

"Oui, my preencess?"

"Please go wait for the Power Ring."

Antoine frowned, thinking of the impending cold of the forest. "Oui, my preencess," he said, turned on one heel, and brushed by Sonic through the door.

Bunnie and Rotor left to their huts to change into their normal apparel and to prepare for the trip. "Man," Sonic was saying after they left. "This is serious! How could ol' chrome dome get one like this by us?" he asked Sally.

Instead of answering that question, Sally posed another. "Sonic, could you do me a favor and turn around?"

Sonic looked confused. "Huh?"

Sally motioned to her nightgown.

"Oh..." Sonic frowned, turning a bit red about the cheeks and hastily doing an about-face.

Sally took the ends of her nightgown and pulled it over her head. She laid it across her bed and put on her vest and boots. There was something intimate about undressing in front of Sonic and she preferred he did not have his eyes on her while she disrobed.

"OK, Sonic," she announced when she had finished, taking Nicole and clipping her to her boot.

Sonic turned back around, still blushing a little bit. He began pacing and tapping his foot impatiently, even after Bunnie and Rotor returned. "C'mon Ant! There shoulda been a Power Ring by now. It's way late!"

"Try tuh have some patience, Sugah-hog," Bunnie coaxed, patting her left ear with her robotic hand.

Sally looked out the window and watched as Antoine staggered across the compound, ring in hand. "Here he comes," she announced. She turned to her companions.

"Now remember. Not a word of this to Tails, or Amy, or anyone else. We don't want to alarm anybody with talks of Doomsday, OK?"

"OK," came her response.

The door opened and Antoine staggered in. "Ah haff gotteen zee Powair Reeng, my preencess," he mumbled as he held out the ring.

"Thank you, Antoine," she said taking it. She looked her friends over. "You ready?"

Sonic spoke for everyone. "Yeah, let's jam outta here."

Sally nodded. "Let's go."

The five of them left Sally's hut and hurried off towards the trees. Sonic made a stop at his hut to grab his backpack and Sally slipped in the Power Ring for him before they all headed out for Robotropolis.

With the aid of Sonic's speed, the five Freedom Fighters had reached the outskirts of Robotropolis. They carefully crossed the city limits, keeping an eye out for any perimeter security. Sonic led them towards the garbage dump around the edge of the city. They all jumped behind a pile of discarded scrap metal as a few hover units skimmed by. Sonic peeked out only to quickly drop back down as three SWATbots marched by. After a minute or two, Bunnie peeked out and announced that the coast was clear. The four of them followed Sonic further into the dump until they came to a wall of garbage. He looked around and picked up a rock. Bunnie perked her right ear, hearing something. She motioned the others to get down. They all jumped into the shadows as another hover unit skimmed by. Sally peeked out, sensing the coast was clear again. She waved to the others. Sonic stepped back out and banged the rock four times on a pipe. He carefully put the rock down and waited. The wall of garbage rose up and Sonic and the others rushed in, the door quickly closing behind them.

"Hello guys," Uncle Chuck said casually, as if knowing that they would be coming.

Sonic marched up to his uncle's computer terminal with the others close at his heels. "What's goin' on, Unc? What's with this Doomsday crack?"

"Now now, calm down, Sonnie boy," Uncle Chuck insisted, typing something on the computer.

Sally stepped forward. "It's bad, isn't it Charles?" she asked, direly.

Uncle Chuck lowered his red eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid so Princess. I haven't any access to the high security files from this terminal, and Robotnik is becoming more and more paranoid about security. I can't figure out what his status is on the Doomsday Project other than what I hear him say."

Rotor stepped up as well. "You said an inside terminal could access more files from the mainframe?"

Chuck sighed and shook his head. "I don't think so anymore. I almost hacked into the mainframe just minutes before you came, but I came up with an error stating that the only way you can access anything in the mainframe from ANY terminal is if you have the security access codes."

"Where in the hoo-ha d'ya get them?" Bunnie asked, placing her hands on her metallic hips.

Chuck frowned. "That's just it. The only place you can get the access codes are from the mainframe computer itself."

Rotor slapped his sides. "Then that's impossible. If we can't hack into the mainframe, then how are we gonna get the codes located in the mainframe that allow you to hack into the mainframe? It's not logical."

Uncle Chuck sighed again and nodded. "The only way to get the codes would be to use Robotnik's main computer."

"You mean the one in the main control room?" Sally asked.

"That's the one." Uncle Chuck typed something on the computer and a diagram of the Death Egg appeared on the monitor. He pointed to the center of the diagram. "Right here is the control room."

Antoine slapped his forehead. "Oh, Ah am theenking zees ees eemposseeble. We are to be doom-ed!"

"We can't get into Robotnik's main control room!" Sally cried.

Sonic spoke up. "Sure we can."

Everyone glared at the blue hedgehog. "What? Sonic,

Robotnik's always in there," Sally argued.

Sonic made a sound of disgust. "You afraid of ol' bubble butt?"

Sally crossed her arms and looked at him harshly. "No, but I don't think he'll just invite us in and let us use his mainframe, Sonic."

"Plus, the control room is so heavily guarded," Rotor added.

"So," Sonic began, tapping his sneaker, "we'll just get RoBUTTnik and the SWATbutts outta there."

Sally rolled her eyes. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"Easy," Sonic explained, pointing at the diagram. "We'll just create a diversion here, here, here, and here." He pointed to the four separate corners of the building. "If we can draw away all the security to the outside, then that will leave the center totally unguarded, and-"

"One of us can get into that room undetected," Sally finished, a smile creeping onto her face. "That's a good idea, Sonic!"

Sonic got a smug look on his face. "I know."

"Great thinkin', Sugah-hog!" Bunnie praised.

"I bet it'll work," Rotor agreed with a smile.

Antoine had to be skeptical so Sonic would not drown in adoration. "Oui, but what eef Robotnique weel not leave zee room of control?"

Sonic just grinned. "Oh he'll leave all right. We just have to make a diversion major enough for him to get his wide load up outta that chair and come out. I think I can handle it."

"So it's settled," Sally said, leaning over Uncle Chuck's shoulder and motioning to the diagram.

"Bunnie, you take this corner. Rotor, you take over here. Antoine, take this side, and Sonic, you cover this area. I'll try to get into the control room and get into the mainframe."

"Gotcha, Sal," Sonic nodded. "After a while, I'll jam up there and give you a lift out. When I give you guys the signal, haul tail back to the usual. Don't let anybody mark you. If you run into trouble, I'll be around to help ya out. Got it?"

"Got it," came his response.

Uncle Chuck marveled at their ingenuity and togetherness. "You young-uns truly amaze me. I'll try to do what I can to confuse security further with my computer. You all get going now and contact me to let me know you're all right."

"Thanks Uncle Chuck," Sonic smiled as the others waved goodbye and headed out. "We'll talk to ya later." With that, he sped out.

Moments later they arrived at the base of the giant Death Egg Fortress. They hid in the darkness as a single hover unit glided by shining a search light. Sonic examined it. "Hope they haven't made us yet..." he whispered. He turned to the others who were all huddled close to him.

Antoine was trembling, again not from the cold. Bunnie noticed and smiled. "Antoine, sugah, are y'all OK?"

Antoine rigidly turned and looked at the cyberbunny. "Ou-ou-ou-oui mon cherie," he stammered. "Ah am just f-f-f-f-fine!"

Sonic rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You guys know what to do?" Nods. "Cool. Let's do it to it." He extended a fist and the five of them executed the Knothole handshake. "Meetcha at the usual. Sal?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be up for ya shortly. You got any problems, hang tough and I'll find ya. Cool?"

Sally nodded and smiled. "I'll be OK, Sonic. Thanks."

Sonic nodded. "Let's roll."

The five of them headed towards the rear of the Death Egg. Sonic led them up near the wall and they hid in the shadows, low to the cold and dusty ground. Sonic's sharp eyes darted here and there, and a look of distaste fell over his face. "Hmm, something's not right..." he muttered in barely a whisper.

Sonic's four companions gazed at him with questioning looks. Of all of them, Sonic knew the Death Egg best. Sally had studied maps and had vague memories of the layout before it was converted to Robotnik's twisted fortress, but since Sonic made many frequent trips to the dismal place, breaking in was like second nature to him. The other Freedom Fighters usually followed his lead to this point-the entry stage, but now the intrepid hedgehog seemed confused and disoriented. "What's wrong, Sonic?" Sally inquired softly.

Sonic scratched the back of his ear as he continued to look closely at the metallic wall. "Should be a door here... a vent that is... like we usually go..."

Bunnie joined him in his visual scan, as it now was becoming apparent to her also that the topography of the fortress' surface indeed seemed unfamiliar. "Mah stars, it's been ages since we've come to this horrible ol' place..." She crawled to the wall and placed her metallic fingers against it. "D'yall think ol' Robotnik might uh sealed up all them vents?"

Rotor shifted his weight carefully, being mindful not to make any noise as he crossed his arms and went into a state of thoughtfulness. "That doesn't seem likely only because this place needs those vents to function. The Death Egg is filled to the brim with mechanical parts and moving machinery... computer networks... you name it. Without those huge ventilation systems, those components would overheat and cause serious problems, especially since metal isn't very conducive to airflow without them." Only Sally seemed to be following Rotor's explanation without a bit of bewilderment, to which the walrus took notice. "Let's just say, if old Iron Lips sealed those vents up completely, the Death Egg would be in bad shape."

Antoine hugged himself a bit tighter, but a sigh of relief escaped his mouth. "Ah am theenking zees to be a good theeng then, yes? Perhaps zee fuelish Robotnique 'as doom-ed hees own seal, yes?"

"I hate to say this," Sally frowned, shaking her head, "but I doubt Robotnik or Snively would be so careless."

Sonic was quietly rubbing his chin as the others discussed the disappearance of the ground-level vents. Suddenly, he drew himself up to a standing position. "Hold tight, guys. Be back in a sonic second." The others squeaked in surprise as Sonic blew past them in an instant, knocking them all over onto the ground. It was a bad habit of Sonic's; it never seemed like he realized what happened whenever he blasted off with his friends near him. Despite this, none of them ever seemed to complain. Sonic sped around the rear perimeter of the fortress, his keen eyes able to decipher what he was seeing against the wall despite how fast he was running. He skid to an abrupt stop and moved close to the wall, reaching a hand out to touch a strangely warped section. His fingers and eyes trailed across what appeared to be just what Bunnie has surmised: a vent that had been sealed over by another metal panel. Sonic stepped back, his mind racing and his fists clenching. Had Robotnik realized that they had been sneaking in primarily through these vents? Had he gotten wise to their infiltration methods? That didn't matter at the moment. They had to get in somehow and figure out what the tyrant had planned. Determined, Sonic hopped up into the air and curled up into a razor-sharp ball. He hurled himself at the sealed panel and grinded at it with his quills. Normally, it only took a few seconds for him to tear through even the sturdiest metal with his Super Sonic Spin... but after long he lost his momentum and fell back onto his feet, staring up at an unscathed wall. "Man!" he growled, rubbing his quills with his gloved hand. "Whoa!" He realized he'd yelled a little too loudly and had alerted a local patrol of SWATbots. The sound of their clanking march grew closer to his location. Hesitantly, Sonic whirred up his legs and took off back towards his friends.

The others had just finished dusting themselves off from Sonic's departure when he kicked up another cloud of dust as he arrived again. After Antoine let out a huge sneeze, Bunnie clasped her organic hand over his muzzle. "Shhh, sugah! Y'all want them mean ol' SWATbots tuh git after us?"

Antoine's brow lowered and he mumbled something about it being Sonic's fault from behind Bunnie's hand. For once, Sonic concurred.

"Sorry. It's no good, guys... the vents are all sealed up under these panels. Can't even see where half of them used to be. I tried to trash one but whatever old Butt'nik used to cover 'em is mondo strong."

Sally thought for a moment, and then suggested, "Maybe if you used the Power Ring you could break through?"

Uncharacteristically, Sonic shook his head at the idea in favor of caution. "Can't. SWATbots are on patrol and will prob'ly be headin' this way. 'Sides, I should save the Power Ring for an emergency."

Bunnie let Antoine's mouth go and he gasped slightly. "What ees more emergent zan zee SVATbots comeeng zees way, Sonique?"

Sally looked frustrated and moved to take Nicole off of her boot. "Well we can't just march in through the front door. Ugh... this is my fault... I shouldn't have let us stay off scouting missions for so long."

Sonic suddenly placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Sal. Anything and everything is RoBUTTnik's fault. We'll find a way in. Just keep cool." Before she could reply, Sonic urged them to lay low while he checked something out. He moved cautiously away from the towering walls of the Death Egg, his eyes trailing upwards to inspect its metal surface again, but this time much higher. After a great deal of intense squinting, he noticed something many meters up on the side of the building. He zipped back to the others and crouched stealthily next to Rotor and Antoine.

Sally gazed at him in anticipation. "What do you see, Sonic?"

"Got it," he grinned, pointing his index finger toward the sky. "Butt'nik musta sealed the ones down here and put vents up higher where he figured we can't get to."

Rotor's eyes lifted to the speck way up on the wall that Sonic must have been referring to. "You've gotta be kidding..."

Sonic crossed his arms and chuckled. "Don't sweat it, Rote. I can get up there no problem. RoBUTTnik forgot that I'm faster than fast, quicker than quick. I can run up that wall like it was a walk in the park."

"That's great, Sonic," Sally smirked, "but how are we supposed to get up there? You can't do this alone."

Bunnie shifted to her knees and tapped her fingers in the dirt. "Maybe we shoulda asked Dulcy-girl ta come along after all."

"No offence to Dulce, but she's not exactly the greatest at bein' stealthy," Sonic grinned. He stood up yet again and pointed at Sally when he saw her growing frustration. "Don't worry Sal, we'll get in. Be right back!"

This time, upon hearing those words, everyone braced themselves as Sonic shot of in an upwards direction, scaling the side of the building as though it was, indeed, a walk in the park. The cold night air whipped against his face, but it was something he was used to and nigh immune. When he reached the small vent, he quickly slipped his fingers in-between the metal bars and did a flip, expecting to pull the door off with his momentum when his feet hit the wall again. Instead he tripped and slammed his back rather hard against the building's surface as his arms snapped taut and his fingers lost their grip. With a cry of surprise, he flailed wildly as his body starting to fall back down. Quickly, and luckily, he managed to grab the bars again and catch himself. He looked down at the dark city below and heaved a sigh to himself. He fancied himself something of an acrobat, but he wasn't completely numb to the effects of gravity. Once his momentum was lost, physics could do with him as it pleased. He hoisted himself up and planted his shoes against the wall, holding steady to the vent door. He tried pulling, but it was stuck tight. "Man..." he murmured again. "Ol' Butt'nik really doesn't want any company. Too bad." He smirked to himself and tried to think quickly, knowing that the patrol might round the building and discover the others at any moment. "Here goes..." Sonic twisted his body ever so slightly so that his face was aimed toward the ground. He suddenly let go of the bars and allowed himself to plummet back towards Mobius' surface. This would be suicide for any other right-minded, ground-dwelling animal, but Sonic had very little fear when it came to testing the limits of his physical capabilities. The wind whipped violently in his face as he fell, and he gauged the distance between himself and his impending impact with the ground. With only a few meters between him and an unpleasant death, Sonic quickly revved his legs up in mid-air and pressed his feet to the wall's surface. Miraculously, he redirected his center of gravity as was racing down the face of the wall toward his friends.

Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, and Sally nearly had heart attacks as they watched Sonic free fall from so high up, unaware that he had everything under control. Sally was short of breath as Sonic jumped off of the wall at the very last second, did a somersault, then landed not far away. In another instant he was by their sides again.

"Sonic!" Sally wheezed as the hedgehog knelt down beside her. "What happened? Why did you fall like that?"

"Vent's screwed on real tight," Sonic said nonchalantly, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "I could try again, but this is taking too much time. Those SWATbots could be by any second, and I could hear Hover Units too." At this, Antoine made more whimpering noises. Sonic's eyes grew serious and he turned to look at Bunnie who was feeling her heartbeat after watching Sonic's little air maneuver. "Bunnie."

"Hmm? What is it, sugah-hog?"

"Come up there with me."

"Say whu'...?"

"You're super strong. I think you could pull that vent off in one try."

Bunnie looked aghast as she tried to wrap her mind around what Sonic was asking of her. "Well Ah'd try mah best, sugah, but Ah shoah 'nuff can't sprout wings n' fly!"

Rotor sighed and lifted his eyes over the pile of scrap they were hiding behind. "Maybe we need Dulcy after all. We could postpone and come back tomorrow, or-"

Sonic cut him off and stood back up, holding his arms out in Bunnie's direction. "Come on... RoBUTTnik ain't expectin' us and we've come this far. If we bring Dulce, we'll be sittin' ducks up there if they see us. Like I said, Dulce ain't the best stealth flyer, and it's dangerous for her here."

Bunnie looked to Rotor who seemed pensive and uncertain, and then to Antoine who seemed to be occupied listening for SWATbot footfalls. Sally remained silent as well. She was usually one for re-planning in a situation such as this, but their mission was a direly important one that couldn't be compromised. On the other hand, what Sonic was asking was rash and dangerous. Before Sally could finally object to the idea, Bunnie stood up and stepped forward.

"All right sugah-hog. Let's go."

"Bunnie..." Sally, Rotor, and Antoine all said in unison.

"If Ah kin git us in there, Ah gotta try," the rabbot declared, brushing her lop ear aside and looked direly at Sonic who nodded with a satisfied grin.

"That's the spirit, Bun. You trust me, right?"

"'Course Ah do."

"Then hold on!" With that, Sonic scooped Bunnie up and catapulted over Rotor and Antoine's head, over the scrap heap, and made a U-turn towards the Death Egg. Bunnie was taken aback but managed to slide her arms around Sonic's neck, being careful not to harm him with her metallic limb. She closed her eyes tight as she felt the world shift direction and gravity start its angry, defiant pull against her body. Sonic held tightly to her, and despite the extra weight of her robotic limbs, carried her and raced up the building easily. "Bunnie, you OK?" she heard his faint voice call through the whipping wind and the roar of his running. She nodded her head against his shoulder. "Open your eyes! It's all right!" Bunnie reluctantly did as he said, knowing that she'd have to see the panel in order to grab it. Sure enough, as she turned her head to the left, a small vent became visible several meters up. "Grab hold of it when we pass by! I know you can do it!" Sonic praised, concentrating on their mark.

Bunnie pulled her metal arm away from Sonic's body, robotic joints whirring obediently. She knew they'd only have one pass at it, and that any failure would jeopardize the entire mission. Determined, she reached her few fingers out and focused hard on the approaching object. Sonic suddenly blurted out, "NOW!" and Bunnie jabbed her hand against the wall, locking her fingers in place. An ear-shattering crash followed and Sonic could hear several screws and bolts "clinking" off of Bunnie's arm. For a moment he feared the worst, but then saw Bunnie clasping the troublesome vent in her in-tact hand. In a flick of her forearm, she tossed it far into the distance and turned back to clutch Sonic tightly. He chuckled to himself. "Great job, Bunnie! I knew you could do it!"

"Well thanks sugah-hog," Bunnie's muffled voice bore into Sonic's fur. "But now what're we gonna do?" Before Sonic answered, they were already slowing down, and Bunnie started feeling ill. She looked up and noticed Sonic wasn't running nearly as fast as before. "Sugah-hog...?" she whimpered, biting her lower lip.

"Trust me," was all Sonic replied, tightening his grip on her as they started to fall backwards.

As much as Bunnie did trust Sonic, she couldn't help but scream as they plummeted back towards Mobius again. Sonic shifted his arms which aimed Bunnie's weight downward and spun him around more easily than before. "Turn and burn time, Bun, hold on!" he declared as he revved up his legs and took to running down the side of the Death Egg once more. Bunnie practically strangled Sonic as they raced straight down. Sonic hit a flip off of the wall and felt Bunnie's mechanical hand grasp a little too tightly to his quills. With a strained yelp, he hopped back over to the others and set Bunnie down then proceeded to rub the back of his head. "Yeouch... enjoy your souvenir there, Bun?"

Bunnie blinked dizzily before falling onto her backside. She looked at her left hand and blushed through her the light colored fur of her cheeks when she realized she was holding a handful of blue quills. "Oh... mah... stars, Sugah-hog. Ah am so sorry!"

Sonic grinned and continued to stroke his hair. "S'ok, Bunnie. It grows back."

He lowered his hands into fists and looked at each of his friends in turn. "But we got the vent open at least."

Sally let out a sigh and held her hand to her chest. "What a relief. I'm glad you're both OK."

"Awesome job, Bunnie," Rotor praised, smiling at the rabbot.

"Oui, oui!" Antoine agreed, but quickly turned back to the hedgehog. "But Sonique, 'ow ees thees to be 'elping us? Eet is up zere, and we are down here, and zee SWATbots, zey are comeeng for surely, yes?"

"And no time to waste guys, up we go!" Sonic hastily replied, snatching Antoine from where he stood and catapulting back up the wall. Antoine, of course, was horrified by this abrupt abduction and squealed in terror the whole way up. Sonic nonchalantly tossed the dignitary-in-training into the opening of the ventilation shaft. "Be right back, Ant! Don't fall!" Sonic guffawed as he repeated the process of plummeting back down.

Despite having to make three more trips and having to endure Bunnie tearing more of his quills out, Sonic did not tire from the task of carrying each of his friends up the tower safely. Even with Rotor's girth and Bunnie's heavy limbs, it was like a cakewalk for the hedgehog. He finally pushed Bunnie into the vent and three hands quickly reached out to grab Sonic's arms before he could fall again. They all dragged him into the cramped space and gave him an unexpected group hug that silently seemed to say "thank you for not dropping us".

When they finally released him, Sonic squeezed past on this hands and knees and examined their surroundings. "Come on guys," he instructed, motioning to them over his shoulder. "This way."

The ventilation shaft was dark and airy and very long. There were vents all along the way and Sonic peeked down as they passed over each of them. He finally came to a large vent on the right side of them. He stopped crawling and peered in. "This is it," he whispered.

Bunnie crawled past the others and examined the door, then moved her emerald eyes to the hedgehog, awaiting his instructions. He returned her gaze after a moment and nodded approvingly. Bunnie in turn leaned on her elbow and kicked the vent open with one of her metal legs. The door fell to the floor, clanking as it hit. Sonic peered down and was relieved when he saw the vast hall was still empty. He motioned for Antoine, Rotor, and Bunnie to jump down. He turned back and looked at Sally. "You know where you're goin', Sal?"

She nodded and took a breath. "Yes."

Sonic dangled his feet over the edge of the vent. "Be careful, Sally," he pleaded.

"You too, Sonic," Sally returned, crawling further still up the shaft.

Sonic jumped down and joined the others. "OK guys, time to kick the tires and light the fires. Good luck." He held out a gloved hand and invited the others to the Knothole handshake.

"You too, sugah," Bunnie smiled, running off after the gesture was completed.

"Be careful, Sonic," Rotor insisted, running off in a separate direction with his thumbs up still raised.

Antoine had nothing to add as he staggered off in a terrified run. Sonic revved up his legs and sped off in the fourth direction.

Sally continued climbing the slanting shaft, slowly and cautiously. As she neared the control room, she knew that there could be security alarms that might be tripped along the tunnel way. She stopped moving and unclipped Nicole from her boot. "Nicole," she whispered.

"Yes, Sally," Nicole replied.

"Scan ventilation shaft for infrared alarm systems," Sally directed.

"Scanning, Sally," Nicole said, humming softly. "One such security system found, one meter ahead."

Sally gasped and looked ahead of her. Though she could not see the laser that spanned the tunnel, she now knew it was there. She sighed with relief. "Thank you, Nicole. Please continue scanning at a three meter radius," she said before replacing her on her boot. Sally looked around and spotted another vent door. She crawled cautiously towards it, waiting for any indication from Nicole that it was unsafe. Nicole remained silent, so Sally pushed on the panel as hard as she could. It wouldn't budge. She leaned on it hard with her shoulder until it fell in. She gasped and scrambled to regain her balance and pulled herself backwards. Sighing with relief, she peered down to see yet another adjoining ventilation shaft. She took a deep breath and continued into it, fairly certain she was heading the correct way, but worrying about the safety of the others whom she'd left behind.

Robotnik had become extremely agitated, drumming his fingers mercilessly on the armrest. "What's going on, Snively?"

Snively frantically switched from monitor to monitor, security camera to security camera. "I-I'm not sure, suh. Several security alarms have gone off in the lower sectors." He paused. "There's another one. Oh! And another one!"

Robotnik gritted his teeth as he watched a red blinking diagram on the security computer. "Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!"

"I-I-I'm trying, suh!" Snively cried. "Units 10, 7, 14, and 6 report!"

A SWATbot appeared on the screen. "FOUR LIFE FORMS DETECTED IN SECTORS A, B, C, AND D. IN PURSUIT."

Robotnik clenched his fists tightly. "It's the hedgehog... I KNOW IT!! GET HIM!!!"

"Yes, suh," Snively replied, turning back to the computer. "All SWATbots report to sectors A, B, C, and D! Apprehend all life forms!"

"YES SIR."

Snively continued to toggle through the security cameras. Robotnik watched intently. He tensed when he saw a shimmer of blue.

"Stop, Snively!" he ordered. "GO BACK!"

Snively obeyed and toggled to the previous camera. They saw Sonic standing by a computer terminal, typing profusely on the keyboard. He knew perfectly well that Robotnik's cameras were focused on him and that scores of SWATbots were heading his way.

"Wow," he said, loud enough for all to hear. "This hackin' stuff sure is easy. I betcha all of Butt-brain's secrets are in this itty bitty computer right here!" He turned and looked to his right. "Uh oh. Party crashers. Gotta juice!" he announced, speeding off. Dozens of SWATbots ran by. When they had passed, Sonic reappeared from nowhere and continued typing. "RoBUTTnik's so stupid! I might even get some dirt on his Doomsday Project..."

Robotnik jumped up. "THAT'S IT!" he roared. "I WANT THAT HEDGEHOG!" He stormed towards the door and grabbed Snively by the collar on the way. "I want you to get every SWATbot in the building and a laser rifle, and meet me in sector C. I WILL GET THAT HEDGEHOG IF I HAVE TO STRANGLE HIM WITH MY BARE HANDS!" He dropped Snively to the floor and marched out.

After the door slid shut, Snively picked himself up and dusted himself off. "Miserable old toad..." he mumbled under his breath. He turned to the computer and opened a communications channel. "Attention all SWATbots. Report to sector C and apprehend the hedgehog. That is a priority!" Having said that, Snively shut down the channel and hastily followed in Dr. Robotnik's direction.

A minute or so passed and a vent door suddenly swung open above the room. Princess Sally peered down, making sure the room was clear. She smiled to herself. "Good job, Sonic," she whispered. She studied the distance between her and the floor and since she had no resources with which to lower herself, she took a long leap to the ground. She landed with a thud, bending her knees deeply to absorb the impact. It was an unpleasant fall, but duty urged her to quickly recover and survey her surroundings. She hastily moved towards the mainframe terminal and looked up at the huge monitor. She knew she had to work quickly and efficiently. She had never even seen Robotnik's main computer so close before, but she had enough basic knowledge to figure out what she needed to do. She unhooked Nicole from her boot and opened her up. She snapped open a small door below Nicole's control panel and extracted a connector cord, and then plugged it into a port in the computer's console. "Nicole," Sally addressed.

"Yes, Sally," Nicole replied.

"Search newest files for Data Thief software and load it."

"One existing file found. Loading, Sally," Nicole stated.

"Good," Sally nodded. "Download any decryption software necessary for decoding mainframe data."

"Searching main data bank. Please wait."

Sally waited and waited for some time, nervously looking towards the door every now and then. "Oh... Come on Nicole..." she pleaded, becoming unnerved.

"One program found entitled Cryptosmasher. Downloading to secure file," Nicole finally said.

Sally let out a sigh of relief. "OK, search for mainframe access codes within every data bank of mainframe."

"Searching, Sally." Much to Sally's relief, this operation did not take very long. "One such file located. Downloading to secure file."

"Now one last thing," Sally began. "Search for data on Doomsday Project."

"Searching, Sally. No such data exists."

"What!?" Sally exclaimed. "There has to be! Try again, Nicole."

"Yes, Sally... Negative search results."

Sally thought a moment. "How about, 'destruction'?" she guessed.

"No such data."

"How about annihilation?"

"No such data."

"Eradication?"

"No such data."

Sally let out a cry of frustration. "Oh please Nicole! The entire fate of Mobius could rely on this data!"

Nicole hummed for a moment. "Secure data located under file labeled 'Mobius'."

Sally's eyes brightened. "Access and download, Nicole."

"Accessing."

Meanwhile, Sonic was continuing his diversion, racing from dozens of SWATbots and having a good time doing it. He ripped through lines of robots with his Super Sonic Spin, and several more were still on his tail. "WHOA!" He suddenly skid to a stop when a laser blast barely grazed his fur. He looked up and saw Robotnik looming over him on a balcony of the floor above. Sonic greeted him with some laughter. "Hey hey! It's ol' Robo brain! Not a very good marksman, are ya?"

Robotnik just re-aimed the rifle straight between Sonic's eyes. "Enough with the assiduous banter, hedgehog!" he boomed. "Surrender now or I'll blast you to smithereens!"

Sonic grinned and put his hands on his hips. "Yeah right, RoBUTTnik. You couldn't hit the broad side of a moon with that toy."

Robotnik's temper came to a boil. "You've defied me for the last time, hedgehog! Prepare yourself for the Great Beyond!"

Sonic answered with a fake yawn as the clanking of metallic feet drew closer behind him. Robotnik, red eyes blazing and teeth clenched, jammed the trigger, letting countless blasts of laser fire fly towards the heroic hedgehog. Sonic swiftly ducked down just as the SWATbots had caught up behind him. The laser tore through the lot of them and they lay on the floor in a useless metallic heap. Sonic examined them poignantly, shaking his head. "You missed me, BUTTnik," Sonic announced, turning a grinning at the enraged doctor. "Keep practicin'!" he laughed, revving up his legs. "Later!"

With that, he blasted off down the hall, leaving Robotnik throwing down the laser rifle and screaming, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!" Just then, Snively and another squadron of SWATbots came running into the corridor. Robotnik yelled down to them. "THAT BLASTED RODENT WENT THAT WAY!! AFTER HIM!!!"

"Yes suh," Snively nodded. He turned to the SWATbots who were rather heavily armed with bazookas. Robotnik meant serious business for Sonic. "Apprehend the hedgehog or otherwise destroy him!"

The SWATbots ran off down the hall as well with the bazookas loaded with homing missiles.

Sonic dashed through the halls and skid to a stop when he saw Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine all scurrying towards him being pursued by SWATbots. Bunnie stopped running and held Rotor and Antoine back when she saw Sonic signal her to duck. "Git down, y'all!" she cried, pulling them to the floor.

Sonic rolled up into a razor sharp ball and flew over Bunnie, Rotor, and Antoine and ripped through the SWATbots, destroying them all. He returned to his friends' side and helped them up. "Thanks, Sugah-hog," Bunnie smiled, dusting herself off. "That wuz uh close one."

"Yeah, this place is crawlin' with SWATbots!" Rotor added urgently. "You must have really mixed things up back there."

"You're tellin' me," Sonic frowned, shaking his head. He pointed towards a vent in the wall. "You guys need to break outta here. Things're gettin' too hot so I'm gonna go get Sal, capice?"

"Got it, sugah," Bunnie nodded.

"Ah oui, bonjour mes amis? Ve cannot to be goeeng zee same way zat we 'ave come een weethout Sonique!" Antoine pointed out anxiously.

Rotor stepped up and placed a hand on Bunnie and Antoine's shoulders. "Don't worry guys. I saw a refuse chute in sector B. It's active so it definitely won't be sealed up, and it should lead to the ground level. As long as we have Bunnie's strength we should be able to force our way out." Bunnie nodded reassuringly to Antoine, but the coyote suddenly had an unlikely spurt of bravery.

"I am to be theenking that I must stay here to ensure zee safety of mon Preencess." The other three glared at him in surprise. Sonic finally let out a soft chuckle and folded his arms.

"I kinda got that under control, Ant. Don't worry about it," he said, trying to sound smug and yet retaining an air of reassurance.

Antoine's chest had been puffed out, but he recoiled slightly, fighting to combat the overwhelming inevitability of Sonic's heroism. "Oui, I am knowing thees, but-"

Sonic was about to say more when suddenly dozens of SWATbots could be heard charging towards them from down the corridor. "Move it you guys!" Sonic ordered.

"Y'all be careful now, sugah-hog" Bunnie cried, instinctively taking hold of Antoine's arm lest his courage melt any further.

Sonic spread his body out in a defensive stance, as if to shield his friends from the incoming danger that was flooding up behind him. "You sure you got this, Rote? Getting out of here all right?"

"We'll meet you at the usual," Rotor replied simply and with a good amount of confidence in his voice. "You go take care of Sally." With that, the three of them turned to make their way hastily down the corridor.

Sonic made sure they escaped safely then looked towards the direction of the SWATbots. "FREEZE PRIORITY ONE HEDGEHOG," they droned as they approached, bazookas poised. "SURRENDER OR BE TERMINATED."

Sonic glared open mouthed at their arsenal. "Whoa guys! Bringin' in the heavy artillery!" He revved up his legs. "Love to stay and play but I gotta juice!" He blasted off past them down the hall, away from the direction his friends had fled. The SWATbots positioned themselves and took aim, firing a dozen homing missiles on the hedgehog. As Sonic ran, he sensed he was being followed, and quickly. He turned his head and gasped when he saw twelve pointy missiles gaining on him. "WHOA! That's TOO close for the ol' comfort! Warp time!" He reached into his backpack and grabbed the Power Ring. A yellow light of sheer energy engulfed his body. "Outta here!" He blasted off leaving a trail of fire behind him. He sped towards a wall, an idea cooking up in his resourceful mind. "Let's see how smart these metal cigars really are," he murmured to himself, hurdling towards the wall, missiles not far behind. Sonic streaked straight up the wall with his incredible speed, continuing in the opposite direction along the ceiling and once again defying every law that physics had to offer. The missiles crashed against the wall before they could change direction and exploded on impact- all twelve of them. Sonic slowed down, flipped off the ceiling and landed dexterously on the floor. "Not as smart as the ol' hedgehog," he concluded, watching the smoking wreckage and the huge hole in the wall. He saw that there was a shaft slanting up behind it, held up the Power Ring and revved up his legs. "Turn and burn time!" he declared, dashing into the hole and up the shaft as SWATbots fruitlessly attempted to follow.

Sally watched the huge monitor in awe as line after line of numbers and letters ran down the screen while Nicole downloaded the files. "File download complete. Five existing data files remain. Continue downloading?" Nicole inquired. Sally was about to reply when she heard several alarms go off outside the room. She looked towards the door and tensed when she heard the clanking feet of SWATbots run by. She gasped when a booming voice echoed over the intercom. "ALL SECURITY UNITS APPREHEND THE HEDGEHOG, NOW!!!!!" Sally frowned, knowing this meant Sonic's head was a hot item at this point. She was about to address Nicole when she heard a thumping sound not far from her. She let out a scream and then whirled around. To her relief a blue hedgehog stood before her. "Oh Sonic," she panted. "You scared me."

"You'll be even more scared when the welcome wagon gets here," Sonic said, rushing towards her. "Pack it up, Sal. We're outta here. Robotnik's pretty darn mad at me."

"I heard," Sally nodded. She turned to the computer. "Nicole, run Data Thief Getaway program."

"Running, Sally," Nicole replied. "All activity now un-traceable."

"Good," Sally said, detaching Nicole from the console and clipping her to her boot.

"What's the Getaway program?" Sonic asked, liking the sound of it but, like many things Sally dealt with, did not understand.

Sally opened her mouth to say something when the doors suddenly slid open revealing dozens more SWATbots. "FREEZE INTRUDERS. SURRENDER NOW," they ordered, laser rifles poised.

"Uh... you can tell me later," Sonic frowned, assessing the situation. He held out his arms and Sally climbed into them. He held the Power Ring tightly, hoping to extract a bit more energy before its power faded away. "Time to lock and load, Sal, hang on tight!" Sally hugged his neck as tight as she could and Sonic raced out of the control room, tearing through the incompetent robots. Sonic zoomed down the levels of the towering fortress and reached the main floor again within seconds. He screeched to a stop when he spotted a large, flashing green light in sector B.

"Sonic..." Sally murmured nervously. "Why did you stop?"

"Seems like this might be the best way outta this dump, Sal," the hedgehog replied as he inspected the opening to the industrial-sized garbage chute. "Just hang tight; we'll be outta here in a sonic second!" Sonic closed his eyes and felt what little power the ring still held coarse through him. His legs revved up and the two Freedom Fighters took off into the pitch black tunnel like blue lightning. Sally tried her best not to make a peep as Sonic ran so quickly that they were flying upside-down on the top of the narrow corridor. "Good job, Rote," Sally heard Sonic say as they shot out of the tunnel and into the cold Robotropolis night air.

The celebration of their victory was put off for the next morning since all five of them were fatigued when they returned to Knothole. The early light of dawn was shimmering on the horizon, and they all said their good nights to each other as they made it to their respective huts. Sonic escorted Sally to her door and asked her if she was all right.

Sally smiled and nodded, exhausted. "I'm fine, Sonic. Thank you." She kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thanks for tonight," she added quietly as Sonic gently touched the place where she had kissed him. "You did really amazing work..." She rubbed her arm awkwardly, trying to express her gratitude while she had the hedgehog reeling. "You ran a smart mission. I'm... really proud of you." A sprits of rosy skin shone through the light fur of her cheeks and she turned quickly before Sonic could respond to her praise. "Go get some rest, you deserve it."

With that, she went into her hut and closed the door behind her.

Despite how much his body ached, Sonic stood there for a good several minutes, just staring at her door, stunned by her words and how content she sounded. Finally, he strutted off towards his hut with a satisfied look on his face.

The five of them slept incredibly late the next morning, even Sally. Though she did wake up a couple hours before the others, it was still uncharacteristically late for her. The first thing on her mind was to begin deciphering whatever information she had managed to attain the night before from Robotnik's mainframe. After putting on her boots and vest, she picked up Nicole from her desk where she had left her the previous night before retiring to bed. She flipped the computer open. "Nicole," she addressed, toggling the sleep button on her console.

Nicole "woke up". "Good morning, Sally."

Sally smiled. "Good morning, Nicole. Ready for some vigorous work today?"

"Indeed," Nicole replied.

Sally stretched and yawned, still rather tired. "OK. Run Cryptosmasher software."

"Accessing. Software on-line."

"Good. Open data files under password... Doomsday."

"Accessing, Sally. One moment please."

Sally sat down at her desk, sensing this whole process might take some time. When Nicole had brought up the encoded files, Sally sighed. "OK, Nicole. Begin decryption process."

"Executing, Sally." Nicole hummed for a moment. "Estimated length of process... ninety-four minutes."

Sally let out a groan. "Very well, Nicole. Let's get started."

Tails was a bit distraught this early spring morning. He had risen at his normal hour- not too early and not extremely late- only to find that his idol, Sonic Hedgehog, had not yet awoken. This puzzled Tails since he and Sonic were like brothers, normally waking up around the same time to another fun-filled day for the two best friends. Tails had already been to Sonic's hut, knocking incessantly in hopes to draw his hero out, but with no success. He had decided to go to the Great Hall without Sonic and have his breakfast, and then immediately thereafter returned to try again. This time he caught Sonic just as the fatigued hedgehog was getting up.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

After a short paused Sonic spoke up. "I'm comin', I'm comin'..." Tails immediately registered this as a voice of exhaustion. Sonic slowly opened the door and stared at the little fox with groggy eyes. "Hey big guy," he said, trying to muster a smile. "What's up?"

Tails inspected him critically. "Gee Sonic," he began. "Do you know what time it is?"

Sonic thought a moment, and then looked up at the sky. Not having any more of a clue then than he did before, he looked back at Tails and shrugged. "I dunno."

"It's like... way past noon!" Tails clarified. "Why'd you sleep so late?"

Sonic frowned and shrugged again. "I guess I'm just tired from last night."

Tails got a sly look on his face. "Why? What'd you do last night?"

Sonic let out a long yawn before continuing. "We went on a little excursion to Robotropolis."

"For what?"

Sonic opened his mouth to say more when Sally's words suddenly returned to him. He thought before he spoke. "Oh uh... nothing major. Just a little errand... for Uncle Chuck… ya know..."

Tails looked puzzled at first, but then seemed satisfied and questioned no further. "Oh. Cool. Anyway, whatta you wanna do today?"

Sonic smiled and stretched his arms, stepping outside. "I dunno, big guy. Whatever you wanna do."

Tails got an excited look about him. "How 'bout we go fishing? No wait... How about we go climb trees in the forest... no... I know! We can have a race! No... I got it! Let's play tag! Or... or... have a wrestling match!"

Sonic grabbed Tails in a headlock and administered a wicked noogie. "Let's say we just do all of those, li'l bro'?" he smiled, Tails struggling and laughing in his grasp.

As Sonic took Tails up on that wrestling match idea, Bunnie emerged from Sally's hut, looking an awful mess. She too had woken up just recently and still looked it. Her two long ears were still drawn up in curlers and her eyes had dark bags under them. Still nevertheless, she approached the two wrestling animals. "Sugah-hog," she called in a scratchy voice.

Sonic heard and looked up from the frenzied fight, Tails still gnawing at his leg. "Hey, time out, Tails. Time out!!" he pleaded. He took a better look at the cyberbunny. "Whoa, Bunnie! You-"

"DON'T say it, sugah," Bunnie cautioned, placing her hands on her metallic hips. "Anyhoo, Sally girl wants tuh see us all private-like."

Sonic grimaced and looked at Tails who was anxiously awaiting the continuation of the brawl. "Right now?" he asked.

Bunnie nodded. "Right now."

Sonic sighed, but realized it might be urgent. He stood up and helped Tails up as well. "Chill for a sonic second, big guy. We gotta go see Sal."

Tails frowned disappointedly. "But Sonic, what for? We were s'posed to hang out today!"

"I know, I know, little buddy," Sonic acknowledged solemnly. "But I'm sure this is mondo important stuff Sal's gotta tell us. It won't take long," he promised, walking after Bunnie.

"But... but..."

"I'll be right back Tails, I promise," Sonic called.

Sonic had begun pacing ceaselessly after Sally had finished speaking. Bunnie almost started pacing with him. Rotor was shaking his head painfully while Antoine was cowering in a corner. Sally looked as if tears were going to spill from her eyes at any moment as she looked at Nicole. Rotor closed his eyes, slamming his fist in his palm. "Now wait a minute," he began in a troubled tone. "Run this by me one more time. He built a what?"

Sally sighed. "Rotor, I don't know for sure. All Nicole has decoded here is that Robotnik built about a dozen huge satellites that are all going to be used to relay signals to something he calls the Doomsday Distributor. I don't have any data on whatever that might be, but I do have the information regarding the satellites. He plans to launch them within two days from now! He has several guidance and coordination computers to synchronize their positions after being launched into the atmosphere. The construction has taken place in a remote factory in downtown Robotropolis, high security I'm sure. We don't have anymore information than that."

Rotor frowned, still looking as though he were totally confused. "This isn't good..." he mumbled.

Bunnie finally spoke. "Well Ah don't know 'bout y'all but Ah shoah don't like the sound uh this."

"Ah- ah- ah am to be agreeing weeth thees, Bunnie," Antoine stuttered.

Sonic finally stopped pacing and glared right at Sally. "Neither do I."

Sally looked down at Nicole's display. "Two days..." she whispered.

"Do we know for sure the exact date he's set for this so-called Doomsday?" Rotor urged.

Sally shook her head. "It doesn't mention that..." She got an urgent look on her face. "But if he's going to launch the satellites in two days-"

"We gotta stop him soon," Sonic cut in, crossing his arms.

Sally was about to contradict the notion, but then saw that this was yet again another situation where rashness might be necessary. "We need a plan. A serious plan."

"Right," Rotor agreed, coming closer to her. "We can do this. We can get things under control."

Bunnie nodded. "We can do it, togethah," she added, drawing nearer to Sally and Rotor.

Antoine said nothing but stopped shaking and moved close to his friends, a look of determination creeping over his nervous yet handsome features.

Sonic joined the three of them. "Totally. Whatever it is, we won't let it go down. Freedom Fighters don't give up."

Sally sighed dejectedly and nodded. "We must contact Uncle Chuck to see if he knows anymore than we do," she began. "I suppose we'll take it from there."


	2. Part 2

**The Regulator: Part 2**

**A Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM Fan Fiction by Vilsy**

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**A/N:**

**I just have to mention that much credit must be given to the episode of Sonic the Hedgehog entitled "Sonic and Sally", I think it was, for a large part of this chapter. You'll recognize it when you read it, I hope. :) Enjoy!**

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**Tails was now more distraught than ever. He had tired of waiting for Sonic and ventured off into the woods to try and occupy himself. Agitation consumed him and angry thoughts burned in his mind. He picked up sticks and snapped them in half and picked up rocks and chucked them hard against the forest floor. He followed the beaten down path until he came to the clearing where the Power Ring Pool lay. He lowered himself down on the worn log that had been sat upon so many times before. He picked up another stick and drew pictures in the moist dirt, resting his cheek in his other hand. He looked up to the shimmering water and the hissing waterfall.

After some moments of reflection, Tails dropped the stick and got up, walking towards the bank of the pond. He kicked his sneakers off and balanced his way out onto the long, heavy root that jutted out from an ancient oak tree and dangled a few feet above the rippling water. The small fox sat down on the edge, dangling his feet into the cool water. His twin bushy tails waggled up and down slowly as he stared into the water, watching his billowing reflection stare right back. He splashed the water around for a bit with his toes, and then reached over to a pile of smooth, flat stones that he had accumulated over time, stashing them away in a small crook in the root. He picked one up and inspected it solemnly, and then flicked his wrist most expertly, skipping the stone across the water the way Bunnie had taught him during the time he used to spend waiting with her. He let out a sigh and skipped two more stones, becoming incredibly bored and even more vexed.

He suddenly heard snapping twigs and the sound of footsteps disturbing the beds of fallen leaves. He turned and gazed up the path, smiling when he saw the blue hedgehog making his way towards the clearing. Tails then remembered how angry he was supposed to be at Sonic. He quickly turned back around and pretended he hadn't noticed Sonic's presence.

"Hey big guy," Sonic greeted with a suave flick of his finger when he reached the bank of the pond.

Tails feigned surprise. "Oh, hi. What're you doing here?"

Sonic padded his way out onto the root and knelt down next to the little fox, adjusting the straps of his backpack and gazing out at the shimmering water. "I totally forgot I had midday shift." He smiled and looked at Tails. "Were you standin' in for me?"

Tails glanced at his best friend, somewhat perturbed that Sonic had Power Ring duty on their supposed play day. He shook his head. "Nah, I was just stopping by to sit for a minute. I'm very busy, you know."

"Busy?" Sonic repeated, rather incredulously. "Oh yeah? Whatcha up to, li'l bro?"

Tails searched for some ideas. "I'm uh, going to hang out with a friend in a little bit. We're gonna go do something."

Sonic smiled and nodded. "Cool. Who?"

Tails was stuck momentarily. "Uh, you know. A friend of mine."

Sonic looked Tails over a few times thoughtfully. "Oh I see." He got a huge grin on his face and shifted his weight, sitting down with one foot over the water and the other tucked against his leg. "Wouldn't be Amy Rose, would it?"

"NO!" Tails quickly snapped, startling the hedgehog.

"Oh. OK," Sonic frowned, looking back out to the pond.

The water began rippling ever so slightly and a golden glow shone up from the depths. "Oh great, here it comes," Sonic said, standing up. He looked around, then grabbed one of the sticks Tails had snapped in half. Suddenly, a Power Ring leapt out from the waves and hung suspended for several seconds. Sonic reached out with the stick and looped it through the glowing ring. "Gotcha!" he declared, drawing the stick back. He turned to Tails, pointing the stick at him. "You mind slipping this in my backpack, big guy?"

Tails hesitated, trying to remain irked, but then nodded. He slid the ring off of the stick which Sonic discarded. Sonic turned around and Tails flipped open his backpack and placed the ring neatly inside. "There you go."

Sonic turned back around and offered Tails a wink. "Thanks li'l bro! Catch ya later."

He started revving up his legs. "I'm outta here!"

Tails could no longer hold it in. "Sonic wait!"

Sonic slowed the movement of his legs to a stop and the dirt and leaves he had begun to churn up settled around his feet. "Hmm? What's up?"

Tails looked slightly sheepish, shuffling his bare feet against the slick wood. "Where are you going?"

Sonic frowned, remembering Sally's precise directions. "Well big guy... Me and the others got some real important work to do. We're gonna have to step out of Knothole a little later on."

Tails stood up. "Where are you guys going?" he asked again. "Can I come too?"

Sonic was about to answer when he got a sly look on his face. "I thought you said you were really busy."

Tails looked down. "Uh... I..."

"You just go hang out with whoever it is you're gonna hang out with and I'll catch up to you later. We'll finish that wrestling match, OK big guy?" Sonic asked, revving his legs again. "Get loose and juice time!" he exclaimed, blasting off into the forest and causing Tails to lose his footing and scramble to regain balance. Unfortunately, the poor little fox slipped and toppled into the chilly pond water with a great splash.

Tails paddled his way back to the bang and dragged himself into the sand. His fur was drenched and he coughed a few times, and then looked up to the trees, spitting out some water. "Darn it!" he exclaimed, slamming his fists angrily into the sand. "Something's up and I'm gonna find out what it is! ACHOOO!"

"C'mon Amy!" Tails was pleading. He had left the Power Ring Pool, taken a moment to dry off, and now found the little pink hedgehog on Knothole's bridge. She was skipping rope and had no intentions of stopping now.

"I don't feel like playing spy, Tails! I hate that game!" she remarked.

Tails frowned, more annoyed than ever. "But I really need a spying partner, Amy! I need your help to spy on Sonic and Aunt Sally and Bunnie and-"

Amy Rose dropped the jump rope. "Did you say Sonic?" she cried, turning around and running up to Tails.

Tails got a disgusted look on his face. "Yeah, yeah. I did."

"Oh..." Amy cooed, getting a dreamy look on her girlish face.

"All right, all right! Then will you help me?" Tails demanded.

"Sure will!" Amy sang, skipping off after Tails as he dashed off towards the village.

Tails and Amy ducked down in some bushes not far from Sally's hut. They peered over the foliage and caught glimpse of Sonic and Sally standing together in front of the door. Amy smiled from ear to ear.

"Oh, there he is," she whispered to Tails. "He's so cute..."

"Shhh! Be quiet!" Tails insisted. "We're s'posed to be spies!"

Amy frowned, sticking her tongue out at the little fox. Sally was speaking to Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine who nodded from the doorway. Sally said one last thing and waved goodbye, Bunnie and Rotor returning the gesture, Antoine replying with a bow. Sonic gave them the peace sign and held his arms out to Sally. Sally jumped into them and Sonic blasted off towards the forest.

Amy quizzically looked to Tails. "Where are they going?"

Tails smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. Let's find out. C'mon." He jumped out of the bushes and ran off towards Sally's hut.

Amy gasped. "Tails! What are you doing? We're supposed to be spies! You'll give away our secret position! OH!"

She jumped out and ran after the orange fox.

Tails reached Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine before they could close the door. "Where'd Sonic and Aunt Sally go?" he demanded, not bothering to even say hello.

Bunnie looked to Antoine who looked to Rotor who shrugged. Bunnie looked back down at Tails and Amy who had just caught up. "Oh, they just went tuh visit Uncle Chuck. They'll be back shortly, sugah-fox."

Sally held tightly to Sonic's neck as he sped into the grim city of Robotropolis. He raced into the garbage dump along the ends of the city limits. He skid to a stop at the huge pile of discarded scrap metal and gently set Sally down, and then suddenly grabbed her again and yanked her to the ground. Two hover units skimmed by and Sally poked her head back out afterward, scanning the area. She turned back to Sonic who had already begun advancing to the garbage heap. "Good reflexes, Sonic," she whispered, following him.

"As always," Sonic replied almost automatically. He picked up an abandoned wrench and banged it four times on the protruding pipe. He waited and Sally walked closer to him and looked around nervously. Sonic tapped his foot impatiently.

"C'mon Uncle Chuck! Where ya at?" He tried the special combination of hits again, pulling Sally out of the way when another hover unit sailed by the dump.

Sally stepped out of the shadows, looking around once more. "He must be out on his shift. Let's get out of here."

"But Sal, he knew we'd be coming today!" Sonic rebuked, raising his hands up in exasperation.

"I know, Sonic," Sally replied calmly. "But he can't break shift. It could draw suspicion. Perhaps he's left something in the Blind Drop."

Sonic ran up to her and nodded, scooping her up into his arms. "You're right, Sal. Jelly and jam time!" He revved up his legs and sped off into the city.

Seconds later they came to the shabbier parts of Robotropolis' outskirts. They found the hideous looking gargoyle that served as a secret correspondence drop box between Uncle Chuck and them. Sally lifted up its head while Sonic stood watch. Sure enough, Uncle Chuck had left them a message. Sally closed the gargoyle back up and unfolded the piece of paper. "Whatcha got there, Sal?" Sonic inquired, walking up to her.

"Message from Uncle Chuck," she replied blankly, her eyes busily scanning the letter. "It's encoded... It must be important." She lowered the scrap of paper and reached down for trusty Nicole. "Nicole," she said softly as she flipped open the computer.

"Yes, Sally."

"Scan and decode message using language base 'freedom', please," she requested, holding the paper up and angling Nicole toward is.

"Scanning, Sally." A small beam of hazy blue light shone out from Nicole's screen and slowly swept down the strange characters printed on the paper. When it reached the bottom of the page, the light extinguished.

"Whoa," Sonic murmured with a raised eyebrow.

"Scanning complete," Nicole droned as Sally turned the computer back toward her. "Displaying translated sequence."

Sally proceeded to read Nicole's screen silently and Sonic began tapping his foot loudly. "Well?" he demanded breathlessly.

"He says he retrieved more information on the production of the satellites... He's found the location of the factory they're being produced in! He says to meet him at his office at 2000 hours, bring at least three of us."

Sonic returned to pensive thought, tapping his foot and rubbing his chin. "Sounds like he has a plan, Sonic," Sally said softly. "But that doesn't give us much time to get back to Knothole and pick up one of the others. Let's get going."

Sonic and Sally made haste and returned to Knothole to fill in the other Freedom Fighters. As 2000 hours drew nearer, Bunnie volunteered to go back to Robotropolis with Sally and Sonic. Antoine and Rotor's job was to keep the suspicion and concern low within Knothole. With Tails alone, they would have their work cut out for them.

Sonic kicked up a cloud of dust as he screamed to a dead stop in front of the garbage dump. Bunnie and Sally were clinging to both of his arms. "We're here, ladies," Sonic announced chivalrously, looking between the two.

Sally and Bunnie peeled themselves off of the hedgehog and straightened out their bangs. "Come on, guys," Sally instructed, walking up to the garbage heap. She took the liberty of banging four times on the pipe. The wall of garbage lifted up and the three Freedom Fighters hurried in.

"Good, you're here," Uncle Chuck said, rummaging around in the back of his office. "I hoped you'd think to check the drop."

"What's the deal, Uncle Chuck?" Sonic asked. "What's going down?"

Uncle Chuck picked up a box full of small metal objects and carried them to his desk. "Now listen up, youngsters. I found the satellite factory and I want you three to level it!"

"Yeah! Way past cool!" Sonic exclaimed, running up to Uncle Chuck, Bunnie and Sally following.

"How do you propose we do that, Charles?" Sally asked soberly.

Uncle Chuck reached into the box and pulled out one of the metal objects. "With these."

Bunnie marveled at it. "What in the hoo-ha're those thangs?"

"77-B Type remote explosives," Uncle Chuck verified. "I've been scavenging for any volatile items that have been carelessly discarded, and I hit the mother lode with these little babies. Been savin' them for something important. Now take a look at this map." The robotic hedgehog motioned his metallic fingers to a map of the city. "The factory is located right here. It can't be missed. Now, there is extremely tight security located at the northern and southern ends of the building. Bunnie?"

"Yes, sugah?"

"I want you to make your way to the west side of the factory. There, you should find a large surge box. I want you all to synchronize your watches and when your timer hits zero, Bunnie, you throw the large switch located in this box. This should momentarily surge the power in the factory. Got it?"

Bunnie nodded. "Got it."

"Before the back up generators kick on, Sonic, you'll enter the factory and place these babies at these ten points within the factory." Sonic watched as Uncle Chuck pointed out ten points on the map. "With the power out momentarily, these security will be disrupted and emergency doors should automatically open. You'll have free reign for a limited time."

"Gotcha, Unc," Sonic nodded, giving a thumbs up.

Uncle Chuck looked up to Sally who was watching intently.

"Princess?"

"Yes?"

"Your job will be to detonate the bombs once Sonic has set them all."

Sally looked at him nervously. "May I see Nicole for a moment?"

Sally snapped out of her apprehensive state. "Oh, oh yes of course."

She bent down and unclipped Nicole from her boot, handing her to Uncle Chuck.

"Thank you. I'll just modify her to be coordinated with the explosive charges..." Uncle Chuck continued, entering commands on Nicole's console. Meanwhile, Sally was staring at Sonic who was becoming quite itchy.

"Ya done yet, Unc?"

"Patience, Sonnie boy," Uncle Chuck pleaded. He handed Nicole back to Sally. "OK, Bunnie," he continued, turning the rabbot around.

He loaded the ten explosives into Bunnie's backpack.

"Hey Unc! I thought I was gonna handle those," Sonic questioned.

"You will, Sonic. But Bunnie has to arm the bombs right before you head into the factory. After you arm each one individually by pressing this green button here, you transfer them into Sonic's backpack so you can keep track, OK?"

Bunnie turned around and nodded. "You can count on me, Uncle Chuck."

Uncle Chuck walked up to Sally and motioned to Nicole. "You'll be able to monitor Sonic's position on Nicole's radar. Once he's dropped the last explosive and cleared the area, you commence detonation. OK?" Sally swallowed and nodded. He held up a tiny metallic device between his thumb and forefinger, no larger than a coat button. "Just place this in Sonic's backpack, or somewhere on his person where it won't fall off." Sally took the little device and squeezed it in her small hand like a precious treasure, and gave another affirming nod to Uncle Chuck. She realized the older hedgehog did not completely trust his nephew with small important items. "Now don't be fooled," the mustachioed robot continued, turning to the group. "These babies pack quite a punch! Keep your distance when you blow it up! Everyone got it?"

"We got it," Sonic answered for them all. "It'll be cake. C'mon guys."

The three of them arrived on the east side of the factory, away from the heavy SWATbot patrol. They all crouched behind a pile of scrap metal, Bunnie taking off her backpack. "I woulda never guessed this old building was an active factory..." Sonic whispered, looking up at the run-down edifice that appeared to be in dire disrepair and disuse.

"Yes, it seems idle from the outside..." Sally agreed. "Are you sure this is the right one?"

"Uncle Chuck said it was," Sonic verified, as if his uncle's word was law.

Sally seemed apprehensive, not so much in question of Sir Charles' information, but in apprehension of the haste they were making in this mission.

Bunnie was busy arming the explosives. "C'mere sugah-hog," she said, pulling Sonic closer to her. She flipped open his backpack and began loading the explosives into it. "There ya go, sugah, yer all set."

"Cool. You guys ready?" Sonic asked, standing up.

"Wait!" Sally suddenly blurted out, opening her hand which had been enclosing the tiny tracking device like a locked safe. "Here, let me put this in your backpack, Sonic."

"OK, Sal, make it quick," Sonic replied dryly, not seeming to understand the vital role this tiny object was meant to play. Sally reopened Sonic's backpack and squeezed the device in, making sure it sank to the very bottom under the armed bombs before resealing it.

Sonic turned to face Sally and Bunnie and smiled in his confident way. "Ready now?"

"Ready n' steady, sugah-hog."

"Uh-huh." Sally looked to her wrist. "Let's set our watches before we forget." She and Bunnie stood up as they held out their wrists.

"Ready, in five, four, three, two, one, synchronize." They all pressed their start buttons and their timers started counting down from three minutes.

"OK. After this baby blows sky high, I'll meet you guys at the usual. If you run into trouble, no worries. The ol' hedgehog'll be around to help ya. Cool?"

"Cool," Bunnie and Sally both said, somewhat out of sync on Sally's part.

"All righty then, whatta ya say?" Sonic asked, holding out his fist. "Freedom Fighters forever?"

Sally and Bunnie smiled, holding out their fists. "Freedom Fighters forever."

They all executed the Knothole handshake. "Let's do it to it," they said in unison.

"Good luck, y'all," Bunnie said, running off in her appointed direction.

Sonic turned and was about to head off when Sally grabbed his shoulder. He looked back to his princess. "Be careful, Sonic," she pleaded.

Sonic smiled and winked at her. "You too, Sal." He ran off and Sally backed off from the towering factory.

Sonic peered out from behind another pile of scrap. He spotted two SWATbots and a security camera. "Hmmm," he pondered to himself, looking around for resources. He found two broken pipes. He flung one of them to the far left of him, catching the SWATbots' attention. They ran off towards the direction of the noise, the camera following their movement. Sonic then hurled the second pipe at the camera, smashing it with a direct hit. He leaped out from behind the pile and sped towards the eastern entrance.

Meanwhile, Bunnie had located the huge surge box and ripped the cover off of it with her metal hand, leaving subtlety for some other southern belle. She examined the several breaker switches until she found the master control switch. She looked to her watch and watched the numbers count down.

Sonic was crouched behind a wall, watching SWATbots march down the wide halls of the factory. He too looked at his watch, then up at the huge florescent lights. Sally knelt down behind the safety of the scrap piles. She observed her watch intently, watching the final thirty seconds wind down. She clutched her computer tightly.

"Nicole, display radar..." she whispered.

"Displaying, Sally."

Sally looked at the only bright red and orange dot in the diagram.

"Sonic..."

"Ten, nine, eight, sev'n, six, five, four, three, two, one, huhhhuunhh!" Bunnie strained to yank down the huge master switch when the counter reached zero. She slammed it down and the wiring sparked.

Sonic looked up as the lights flickered out. "Way past. Time to lock and load!" He revved up his legs and grabbed an explosive from his backpack. He dropped it and blasted off. He ran at top speed around the factory, tossing the bombs at the respective points.

After he'd dropped the last one, he was about to head for the exit. He suddenly skid to a stop when something caught his eye. "Whoa..." he said in awe, walking up to a glass window. He pressed his hands against it, peering through. He could see the gigantic satellites being worked on several Workerbots- all roboticized Mobians.

There were roughly one dozen of the huge orbs, all covered with intricate lights and panels. Sonic marveled at Robotnik's twisted genius.

Sally wondered why the orange dot had stopped moving. "Come on Sonic! Get out of there!"

Sonic was about to try and get a closer view when a blue laser blew a giant hole through the wall beside him. "Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed, whirling around. A security-bot practically stared him in the face. Sonic offered a smile. "Hi there." Another laser blasted out the wall to the right of him. "Yikes! Not the friendly type huh?" Sonic grabbed the Power Ring from his backpack and held it up, not noticing the tiny "clink" sound the tracker made as it fell to the floor. "Adios amigo!" The power surged through his body and rocketed him directly at the security-bot, tearing through it like a blue can opener. He flew through the factory like lightning.

Sally was running. Several SWATbots had made her position. "Nicole!" she cried between breaths. "Prepare for detonation!"

"Standing by for detonation, Sally."

Sally glanced at the radar, noticing the small red-orange blip was stationary. "Sonic, what are you--" Sally suddenly tripped, throwing Nicole several feet ahead of her. "Oh no!"

The SWATbots cocked their lasers at the fallen princess. "PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, INTRUDER."

As they advanced towards Sally, Bunnie suddenly crashed into them with a flying kick. "HIYA! Y'all still don't know how tuh treat uh lady!" she yelled, stomping her weight down on the SWATbots and knocking them to the ground. She whirled around and roundhouse kicked a SWATbot's arm so hard it went flying off, slamming another bot in the head and toppling it over. In the confusion, she ran up to Sally, helping her up. "Security's on tuh us, Sally girl! We gotta get this thang goin'!"

Sally hurried and picked up Nicole. "But Sonic is still in there!"

Both girls let out a scream as more laser fire flew their direction.

"Just do it, Sally girl! Sugah-hog'll make it! Ah know he will!" Bunnie pleaded, dragging Sally away.

Sally blinked out tears of fear as she and Bunnie ran off.

"Nicole?"

"Yes, Sally?"

"Detonate."

"Detonating, Sally."

Moments later, red and orange flames cracked the factory open like an egg. Smoke and fire crawled quickly up to the sky as explosions burst out of the building. Sally gaped in terror as the building collapsed to the ground under the raging flames. Bunnie shielded her eyes to the bright explosion as she dragged Sally towards the outskirts of the city.

The explosions seemed to be dying down as Sally and Bunnie watched from the safety of the tree line. "Where's Sonic!? Where is he??"

Sally was wailing, tears pouring from her eyes as she lay on her belly in the grass. They had been waiting for over ten minutes and no Sonic.

Bunnie was hugging Sally tightly, tears pouring from her own eyes. "Oh Ah dunno, Sally girl! Ah, Ah was shoah he could make it! He has to!"

"I shouldn't have done it! I shouldn't have done it!! I didn't give him enough time! He didn't make it!!" Sally wept, crying into Bunnie's chest.

Bunnie stroked Sally's auburn hair, trying to console her. She gazed off to the horizon, gasping when she saw the approaching blue streak. "Sally girl, look!!"

Sally looked up, her vision blurred by tears. She gasped as they were suddenly engulfed in a cloud of dust.

"WOO HOO HOO!" they heard. "THAT WAS MONDO WAY PAST COOL!!"

"Sugah-hog?" Bunnie coughed out, trying to see through the dust.

The cloud rose and Bunnie and Sally glared in awe as the blue hedgehog danced around merrily, punching the air with his fists. "Wooo WEE! That was a MAJOR rush doin' that factory!" Sonic sang. "I wish we could do it again! Did you see those flames! Yeah!" His cries were cut short as Princess Sally lunged at him, leaping onto him without restraint. "Whoa, Sal!" he cried out, nearly toppling over. "Easy!"

Sally hugged the hedgehog tightly and planted kisses all over his face. "SONIC!" she cried between kisses. "Where on Mobius were you??" More kisses. "I was so SCARED!" Kisses on his forehead. "I thought you got caught in the explosion!!"

Sonic was taken aback by all the concern and affection and he stumbled backwards. He peeled Sally off of him and set her down.

"Wowee Sal!" he chuckled, a little embarrassed. "I was running around looking for you and Bunnie! I didn't know you two could kick it so fast!" He looked at Bunnie who smiled warmly at him, relieved that he was OK. "You guys are almost as fast as me!"

Sally blinked more tears out and threw her arms around Sonic's neck. Sonic held her close. "Never scare me like that, Sonic..." she whispered.

Sonic lifted her face up with his index finger. "I'm sorry, Sal. You know nothin' can stop the ol' hedgehog!" He wiped the tears off of Sally's cheeks.

Sally gazed into his eyes solemnly, a growing wind blowing her hair around her soft face. "You are wonderful, Sonic..." She slowly placed her lips against Sonic's, kissing him gently. Bunnie watched, a huge smile on her face, but a sudden rumbling of thunder startled them. All three Freedom Fighters looked up to the dark purple sky, full of black clouds. Bunnie and Sally shrieked as blue lightning flashed across the sky, a loud explosion of thunder following shortly after. Rain drops slowly began falling. Sonic looked back to Robotropolis, swarms of hover units and SWATbots visible as alarm of the factory destruction no doubt reached Robotnik.

"I think we've over-stayed our welcome, guys," Sonic said softly, rain pouring off of his quills.

Bunnie walked up and took Sonic's other arm. "Let's git home."

Snively missed his seat. Though he never really ever got the chance to sit down in the metal chair by the huge computer console, he missed it nonetheless. Robotnik had hurled it out the window.

Several screaming alarms were going off and Robotnik was in a state of uncontrollable rage. Not one window in the main control room remained standing. Shattered glass lay all over the floor, rain blowing in from the growing storm outside. If Robotnik had hair, that too would be on the floor. Snively cringed as Robotnik emitted the most bloodcurdling growl he'd ever heard in his entire life.

Snively let out a shriek of his own when he saw Robotnik's own storm change direction and head his way, red eyes blazing. Without a word, Robotnik grabbed Snively by the throat and slammed his feeble body against the wall. He pressed his face so close that Snively felt that Robotnik's putrid breath would melt the skin right off his face.

"How...." Robotnik hissed, saying nothing more.

Sweat was running down into Snively's eyes, causing them to burn. He said a prayer in his mind and built up the guts to reply, knowing that doing so could easily get his neck snapped. "It-it-it-it's not good, s-s-suh..." he rasped. The appertaining rage within Robotnik's eyes grew at the sound of this obvious point. His grip tightened.

Snively squealed. "We have MAJOR security problems!!"

"I KNOW THAT YOU INCOMPETENT DOLT!!" Robotnik thundered, drawing Snively away from the wall and then slamming him back to it.

Snively cried out in pain. "Dr. Robotnik, PLEASE! L-l-l-look-"

"Someone is going to pay dearly for this, Snively..." Robotnik interrupted, inferring the risk of Snively's health.

"LOOK AT THE SURVEILLANCE TAPES!" Snively managed to yell out, squirming in the mad doctor's iron grip.

Robotnik seemed to deter momentarily, and then dropped Snively to the floor altogether. He turned and stormed to the mainframe computer.

Snively slowly picked himself up from the floor and watched as Robotnik accessed the surveillance footage from the hidden camera in the rear of the control room. "I was reviewing the surveillance from last night and I came across the- the..."

Robotnik finished for him when he watched the image of Sally using Nicole on the mainframe. "Princess..." he hissed, an enraged look on his face. He remained eerily silent as he watched the film progress, causing chills to run down Snively's spine as he stayed standing against the wall. His face turned bright red when he saw

the image of a blue hedgehog jump down from the ceiling and run up to the Princess. They exchanged dialogue briefly before thrashing through several of Robotnik's SWATbots. Robotnik stopped the playback and rotated his head towards his terrified lackey. "The Princess hacked into my mainframe, Snively..." he rumbled, advancing towards the trembling little man. Snively was too frightened to respond. Robotnik loomed over him. "Not only did she hack into my mainframe..." He abruptly grabbed Snively by the collar and hoisted him up to eye level. "SHE DID IT FROM MY MAIN COMPUTER IN MY MAIN CONTROL ROOM!!! HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!"

Snively hastily squeaked out an answer. "Eeee! Sh-sh-she must have slipped in wh-when we l-l-left the room! The hedgehog no d-doubt caused the diversion to allow the P-P-Princess to get by us!"

Robotnik's eyes grew clouded over with anger. "The hedgehog..." he repeated in the most sinister voice he could muster. He dropped Snively again. He turned and walked off to one of the large, broken windows, gazing out. The rain and wind billowed his yellow cape back. A flash of lightning and crash of thunder didn't stir him a bit. Snively built up the heart to advance towards his master.

Robotnik stared past all the factories and skyscrapers towards the horizon where the Great Forest lay. "This is the last time..." he declared aloud. "The hedgehog won't come to me... I'll go to him..."

"Pardon, suh?" Snively trembled, stepping closer.

Robotnik turned his head and glared at his minion. "I want the hedgehog..." he explained dryly. "And I want him NOW..."

Snively wasn't sure what to say, but then thought of something. "Suh, I could send out a squad of SWATbots to search the Great Forest if you desire..."

"Not a squad, Snively," Robotnik interjected. "An ARMY!"

Snively looked at him questioningly. "Army, suh?"

Robotnik stared past him in thought. "Double SWATbot production- no- TRIPLE SWATbot production! Shut down all other minor substations and move all resources to the SWATbot factory!"

Snively did not question. "Yes, right away, suh!" He hurried over to the main computer and began typing.

"SEND ALL NEW SWATBOTS TO THE GREAT FOREST AND ANTE UP ON SECURITY IN SECTOR 007-J AND HAVE TEN SWATBOTS ON 24 HOUR DUTY GUARDING THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE OF THIS ROOM!!" Robotnik ordered, on a serious roll.

"Yes, suh!"

"Only ONE order will be issued to these new SWATbots. LOCATE AND CAPTURE THE HEDGEHOG, OR OTHERWISE DESTROY HIM!!" Robotnik screamed. He did some more thinking. "See that SWATbot production increases by tomorrow morning. Also, get rebuilding of the satellite factory underway IMMEDIATELY. Those infernal Freedom Fighters are obviously on to my Doomsday Project..." He looked at Snively pensively. "Intelligent little buggers if I do say so... No matter. I'll be rid of them soon. We couldn't keep it under our belts forever. As long as the Distributor remains safe... They'll never find that anyway. Rebuilding the satellites is top priority other than seeking and destroying the miserable hedgehog. Understood? Get to work, Snively."

Snively grinned, turning back to the console. "With pleasure, suh."

"And Snively?" Robotnik added.

"Suh?"

"Get a Workerbot up here to replace the windows. It's raining in here."

"Yes suh."

Rotor peered through his window, a solitary candle illuminating his hut. He squinted through the rain streaking down the window pane. The glare of the candle made it hard to see. He blew it out, seeing three figures running across the compound. "They're back!" he announced to seemingly no one.

"What?" Antoine cried, snapping awake from his position in a chair. "What ees happened?"

Rotor turned to him. "Sonic, Sally, and Bunnie are back! C'mon!"

Antoine got up and ran after Rotor out the door into the rain. They trampled through the mud towards the waving three. "How'd you make out!?" Rotor exclaimed, competing with the rumbling thunder.

Sonic yelled something out but it was drowned out by a clap of thunder. Antoine froze with fear. "I am theenking ve should be goeeng eento zee Great Hall, yes?"

Rotor nodded, motioning the other to follow. They all dashed to the Great Hall and hastily entered. Rotor closed the door and practically tackled the three returning Freedom Fighters. "What happened? How'd you do? Are you OK? What happened?"

"Oui oui!" Antoine chimed in. "What ees happened?"

Sonic couldn't keep it bottled in. "WE BLEW THE PLACE SKY HIGH!!! WOO HOO HOO!!!"

"ALL RIGHT!" Rotor cried, slapping Sonic a hard five. He grabbed Sally and Bunnie in a huge hug and swung both girls in a circle.

"You guys are the greatest! I KNEW you could do it!" he continued, setting them down.

Bunnie started wringing out one of her ears. "Aw, 'tweren't nothin', honey. That ol' sugah-Chuck always comes through with them inside jobs, huh." She shook her hair out and patted it gently, stealing an affectionate look towards Sonic. "But sugah-hog's the real hero here."

Sally couldn't help smiling, turning and gazing at the beaming hedgehog. "Yes, Sonic was amazing..."

Sonic almost blushed. "Aw, it was a mondo piece of cake." He let out an amused laugh. "I'd LOVE to see the look on ol' bullet-head's face when he saw that little job!"

All five of them laughed out victoriously. "Yes," Sally smiled, at ease for once. "We certainly put a hurting on his endeavors."

"Well Ah don't know 'bout y'all, but Ah'm pooped!" Bunnie announced, wringing out her other ear, water dripping to the floor.

Sally nodded. "We've had a long night. This is two nights in a row we've been at work."

"I could use a vacation," Sonic joked.

Sally smiled. "I think we may have setback Robotnik's plans at least for the time being. We could all use a rest."

Rotor spoke up. "You guys should go to bed. It's a miserable night out."

Bunnie nodded her tired head. "Ah agree with Rotor. G'night, y'all. Great job tonight!" She reopened the door which flung open, wind and icy rain blowing in. "Oh mah stars! Ah'm simply gonna rust out here!" she cried before dashing out. Rotor and Antoine said their good nights and followed quickly out. Sally was ready to make her dash when Sonic touched her shoulder.

"What is it, Sonic?" she asked, turning around.

Sonic's once excited expression seemed to recede. "C-Can I talk to you for a little, Sally?"

Sally became concerned when she heard him call her by her full first name, something he rarely ever did unless he was distressed or experiencing some other deep, serious emotion. "Why of course, Sonic," she said comfortingly. She waited for him to continue but he just looked back at her uncomfortably. Sally thought a moment. "Would you like to talk in my hut? It should be warmer in there."

Sonic nodded slowly, saying nothing.

"C'mon then," Sally instructed, both of them heading out into the rain.

Sally sat on her bed and watched as Sonic paced irritably back in forth in front of her. "I saw those satellites in there, Sal," he was saying. "They were way past enormous! They were mondo involved too! I mean, Buttnik must've meant serious business with whatever he was gonna use 'em for!" He stopped, a pained expression coming over his tired face.

Sally paused, trying to read his feelings. "What is it, Sonic?" she whispered. Sonic didn't answer. Sally frowned. "Come sit here," she instructed.

Sonic stood there a moment, and then finally went and sat next to his princess. It took him a moment to start speaking as he stared idly at his wet sneakers. "Ya know, Sal, how you said... if I have any feelings and junk that I wanted to talk about... I could always come to you and talk about it?"

Sally tried to gaze into Sonic's eyes but he wouldn't look at her. "Of course Sonic..." she whispered. "You can tell me anything. What is on your mind?"

Sonic swallowed, becoming slightly flustered. "Sal..." he finally continued. "I saw a bunch of Workerbots in there, making those things for Robuttnik... They were all roboticized Mobians... and... and we blew 'em all up! We blew 'em up, Sal!! We killed 'em!"

Sally was taken back by this. Sonic had seemed so ecstatic about the mission, she never expected him to report something like this. She put her arm around his shoulder, forcing him to look at her. Tears filled his gentle eyes, fighting not to overflow and spill down his soft cheeks. Sally's blue eyes shimmered with moisture when she saw her best friend's hurt, and at her own realization of what had transpired "Oh Sonic..." she whispered gently, rubbing his shoulder. "I hadn't realized... I'm so sorry..." Sally's lip quivered and she bit it tentatively, her mind racing for a bit of hope to offer both Sonic and herself. "But... perhaps, they'll be all right... Maybe... just damaged, but their--"

Sonic shook his head suddenly. "No, no it ain't all right!" he yelled, tears finally sliding down his face. "RoBUTTnik's forcing them to make things that are s'posed to destroy us! And now they've suffered because of me!" He clenched his fists angrily, his eyes becoming red from crying. "I swear I'm gonna KILL that bastard if it's the last thing I ever do!"

Sally quickly calmed Sonic down by giving him a tight hug. "Calm down, Sonic. I know it's extremely frustrating, but we're working on this." She drew away from him and mustered a very small smile. "We destroyed his satellites, and we will soon destroy his entire empire. Until then, have hope, Sonic. I will do everything in my power to protect the lives of my people, I promise you."

Sonic wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and nodded. Sally looked at him solemnly again. "Many Mobians, including ourselves, have suffered and sacrificed their lives during this war that we're fighting. I'm not justifying what has happened," she added, when Sonic looked like he would explode with grief and anger at any second, "but it would be a dishonor to all who have made sacrifices if we do not continue to find a way to defeat Robotnik. And we will defeat him, one day at a time." Sally drummed her fingers absently on her leg, not sure if she approved of her own speech. She was disappointed in herself, thinking if she had thought Uncle Chuck's plan through more thoroughly, that the roboticized Mobians might be spared. A moment later, she realized that the situation may not have been avoidable at all. Sighing deeply and clutching herself in a hug, she finally spoke again over Sonic's subsiding sniffles. "I'm sure we'll hear from Uncle Chuck very soon with news of how Robotnik's taking this."

Sonic said nothing but nodded again, shamefully wiping the rest of the tears from his face and eyes. "Sal?" he finally uttered.

"Yes, Sonic?"

"Don't tell anybody I was crying, OK? It won't do my rep much good, if you know what I mean. Please, Sal?"

Sally cracked a solemn smile, having difficulty stopping herself. "I understand, Sonic," she managed. "You can depend on me. You are my best friend, after all."

Sonic at long last smiled and nodded. "Thanks Sal. You're the best."

Sally grinned. "I know." They hugged again. "Now you go get some sleep, Sonic. You deserve some rest."

Sonic stood up. "G'night, Sal. Sleep well."

Sally smiled. "You too. And Sonic?"

Sonic paused, his hand on the door as he looked back to the princess. "Yeah?"

"Please keep faith..."

With a nod and a small spark of his familiar confidence, Sonic nodded. "I will."

* * *

END OF PART TWO...

~ The Freedom Fighters have prevailed!- But at what cost? Will Robotnik's retaliation mean serious payback for the Freedom Fighters? What more does he have in store for them? And what is this Distributor thing he speaks of? Sonic has revealed his emotional side to Sally. Will she have a field day and tell everybody? Find out in Part Three of "THE REGULATOR".


End file.
